Are there any distinguishing facial features?.Please make sure to fill in the gender, name, and nickname first (even if they’re temporary) because the worksheet automatically uses those to create pertinent questions in the questionnaire. To make this more grounded in reality, I will use the example of a character called Dan. The more you answer, the better the character will be shaped. Let your character grow through your answers.Īsk these questions in order, and don’t hesitate to give long-winded answers. Remember that to some extent, you are the puppet master, yes. This is a great moment to bond with your character. You have to become your character and give honest answers. To answer them, you, the writer, must put yourself in the shoes of your character. This means that some of the items you decide here won’t stay static on paper as a “just because.” Character Development – Questionnaire So, maybe one of the favorite foods, let’s say hummus, is something that your character would eat at their grandparents’ house and is forever linked to a sentiment of peace and calmness. Some of the items here might be later utilized in the story to ground your character. We are still not getting too deep into their personality we are hovering at the surface of their day-to-day life. Next, we start to tap into the character’s life. I just work on it until I start to hear different from my own, or the other characters.” James Scott Bell In-depth Details “The thing I do at the beginning is a “voice journal,” a free form doc that is the character speaking to me. And besides, creating characters is one of my favorite activities in the pre-writing period.īelow, I’m breaking down the different dimensions tracked by my sheet, as well as the more advanced tools you can use to shape your character’s personality or allow it to come alive. But, I thought it would be good to write a separate post on using that particular worksheet from the tool as I believe it’s that important.
In my Master Novel Outlining and Tracking tool, I have included a character development worksheet, and you can use it freely. There are many ways to create characters, and most tutorials involve some chart where you write down various things about your character and keep building on them. That will allow you to understand why the characters behave a certain way and drive the plot naturally, riding on the character’s strengths and exploiting their weaknesses. Your readers will only ever know about 10% of what you know. Whether you use a specific character development framework, such as the hero’s journey, as an author, you must know your characters intimately. After all, stories are exciting events happening to interesting characters, so the better work you do at creating strong, compelling characters, the better they will carry the story forward for you. In my opinion, character development is one of the most entertaining parts of story creation.
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